Games institute a good start for startups

The pillar companies that kept Massachusetts' video game industry thriving have cratered of late. But that is not discouraging Tim Loew.

As Mr. Loew, a Tufts and University of Massachusetts grad whose father was president of Becker College, explained to me in a Dec. 14 interview, he has been leading an informal working group of Worcester-area professors, capital providers and startup mentors with the mission of spurring startups in information technology fields, such as video gaming, robotics and clean technology, to complement the biotech startup activity of Worcester-based Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives.

This has been a bad year for Massachusetts video gaming companies. In October, the 48-person Zynga Boston shut down “only six weeks from finishing a new mobile game built around sharing funny photos,” according to The Boston Globe. Providence-based 38 Studios filed for bankruptcy and laid off its people after defaulting on a $75 million loan from Rhode Island. Framingham-based ImaginEngine shut down after introducing 200 games, and Play140 in Cambridge closed after creating just three. Both Stomp Games in Concord and Turbine Inc. in Needham laid people off in 2012.

Two thousand people work in the state's video game industry, according to the Globe. But as these company closures illustrate, video gaming is a very difficult industry, because there is no guarantee that a company that produces a popular video game will be able to produce a continuing string of hits.

This does not deter Mr. Loew. He is most proud of the success of the Massachusetts Digital Games Institute that he directs, along with the informal working group, at Becker. The college, with campuses in Worcester and Leicester, first started offering a curriculum in video game design in 2006, and it became very popular with students. Mr. Loew partnered with other institutions including Fitchburg State University, Northeastern University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Mount Ida College and Bunker Hill Community College.

In October 2010, Massachusetts asked Mr. Loew to develop a plan for how to maximize technology collaboration, and by April 2011 that plan had been accepted, resulting in the formation of MassDigi.

This year, MassDigi ran a summer innovation program from May to August for 18 students from these schools, putting them to work on game development projects in a studio setting with the help of experienced video gaming industry mentors.

As Mr. Loew said, “The program this year was terrific for the students and they created three games that are still live.” And MassDigi plans to expand its summer innovation program in 2013 and is exploring the idea of “serving as a new kind of publisher for indie game developers in Massachusetts,” helping them with promotion and distribution.

Mr. Loew said that the six elements of a startup common, which I wrote about last week, “resonate with me.” At the moment, Worcester appears weak on many of the critical elements. It has no pillar companies in the video gaming industry, such as Electronic Arts or Activision, which are both in California. Several local pillar companies have shut down. Worcester also does not appear to have rich sources of capital to fund video gaming startups. According to Mr. Loew, “Biotechnology investment is stronger in Central Massachusetts, and getting finding here is more of a challenge on the information technology side.”

Among the strengths for Worcester's startup common, he said, are the many local colleges, the availability of human capital and mentors who live “in Marlboro, Westboro, and Southboro and are more willing to drive to Worcester than to Boston or Cambridge.”

Mr. Loew also is quite enamored of Worcester's collaborative values.

“Our regional culture is pretty collaborative. We have talent and we share ideas freely. In Worcester, people put down their swords and shields and work together,” he said. “I've had terrific experiences working with lots of different people who did not know me before. We help each other because we're in this together.”

Mr. Loew was also happy to offer three pieces of advice for young people seeking to get involved with startups. He explained, “First, you have to understand your audience, your customer. Second, you have to get the resources required to meet those customers' needs. Third, you should enjoy it, have fun, and be passionate about your work.”

Worcester is fortunate to have a leader like Mr. Loew, who is focusing on a worthy goal and bringing talented people together in an effort to achieve that goal. Based on my research into what it takes to create an effective startup common, one of the most powerful catalysts to realizing his vision would be to start or bring a video gaming pillar company to Worcester.

IPG Photonics in Oxford could certainly be a pillar company for startups in the fiber laser industry. If Worcester could attract a video gaming company of that stature, I think Mr. Loew's vision would be much closer to being realized. To do that, it might be worth finding out why IPG Photonics decided to locate in Oxford, and whether the same principles that yielded that success could be applied to luring pillar video gaming companies to the Heart of Massachusetts.

Peter Cohan of Marlboro heads a management consulting and venture capital firm, teaches business strategy, and is the author of 11 books – most recently, “Hungry Start-up Strategy: Creating New Ventures with Limited Resources and Unlimited Vision.” His column runs Sundays and Wednesdays on telegram.com. His email address is peter@petercohan.com.